The canning season heats up with the weather, and in anticipation of another year of canning fruits, I am trying to finish off what I have.

I go through this every year and some years I come up with pretty mundane uses for the last of my fruits. Not that they aren’t tasty. I mean, it’s nice to serve ice cream with cherries on top. It’s just not… inspired.

But other years I get on a kick that really delivers. Like the year I was swirling my jams into coffee cakes, and the year I discovered that just about any jam could be cooked down with soy and red wine and a couple of ducks to make a dynamite stew. And this year, I am happy report, I’ve got a terrific way to use up all the last of your jars of peaches, apricots, and cherries.